Make the Skies More Friendly (and Fun) for Younger Travelers

Pressured by complaints from business travelers that families with small children were scooping up all the good seats before the first boarding group, Southwest Airlines recently changed their policy so families will now board between groups A and B. This markedly family-unfriendly switch is a surprising move by an airline that has always prided itself on catering to the “everyday” person. For this reason, the plan will undoubtedly backfire. Indeed, there are indications that Southwest is already back-pedaling in response to bad PR (such as generated by the group StopSouthwestPreboard.com.

But for me, this episode brings to mind the larger issue that none of the major airlines are particularly child-friendly. For example, while TV and music options are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, few airlines offer much in the way of children’s entertainment in their audio selections. (And the movie selections are typically geared to the adult traveler, often to the dismay of parents who don’t want their kids to watch grownup (often violent) fare.)

While you can always bring your own CD player or iPod with kids’ stories, it would be great to have more children’s audio available on flights. Adding a storytelling audio channel would be super-easy for airlines to do and would go a long way towards increasing children’s entertainment options. And as any parent who has traveled with young children knows, the more options the better. After all, kids can only watch so many cartoons on your DVD player and go through so many coloring books before they become bored, antsy, and noisy—or, in other words, a misery to themselves, as well as to everyone who sits nearby.

Because listening to audio stories allows a child to curl up with eyes closed, it’s a particularly great option for longer flights. With this in mind, I hereby offer TallTales’ stories free of charge, to the first airline that adds a children’s story audio selection. C’mon airline execs: Being a little nicer to your small passengers won’t make business travelers desert you. After all, most of them have kids, too.